ITS A SNIP returned to Pardubice again trained and ridden by Charlie Mann. Since his second place the previous year he had run in the Aintree Grand National where, starting at 150-1 he had been unseated at the twelfth fence. Whilst he was strongly fancied to go one better it was the French trained LIMONAIRE, winner of the 1994 Grand Steeplechase de Flanders at Waregem in Belgium who started favourite. With Erudit missing through injury the most fancied of the home team was DRAK trained by Vaclav Chaloupka who had finished second to Zeleznik in 1991. He won the June qualifier where he had beaten LORIENT, MIRANO and CHALCEDON who had all finished the 1994 Velka. In all ten of the sixteen strong field had contested last years race and all except MATIA MOU had completed the course. The latter, however was quietly fancied having won the September qualifier. Two former winners of the race QUIRINUS & RIGOLETTO were having their first attempt at the race since their respective triumphs but both were considered to be past their best. On a dull and overcast day the sixteen runners were sent on their way and again the pace was fast to the Taxis with the whole field negotiating the early fences without mishap. DRAK led at the Taxis anc became the races first casualty shortly followed by UNISONO and the French trained URANIUM who was giving poor Monsieur Bocquet his third successive fall at the fence. UNISONOs jockey Vladimir Vinklarek clearly forgetting the strict rules on remounting had managed to hold onto the reins and was quickly back in the saddle. LIMONAIRE and MIKI were amongst the leaders at the "In and Out" but or the approach to the fence the leaders bunched up and LIMONAIRE was unsighted and unseated jockey Klerparski. In rear Robert Crosby having a second ride on KAMBALDA RAMBLER refused while Jaroslav Brecka on MIRANO was unseated but somehow staying on his feet and clinging to the horses reins was dragged through the second part of the fence and was able to remount . With MIKI and HYPNOS disappearing shortly thereafter ten runners were left standing as the race settled down with IT'S A SNIP disputing the lead with RHODE, LORIENT and the mare VINNY. Jockey Zdeno Koplik seemed to be having all sorts of problems with his reins on VINNY and was being given a very uncomfortable ride. The surviving ten runners were tightly packed throughout until QUIRINUS blundered at the final water and the former winner started to drop back. By Havels jump RIGOLETTO was sending out distress signals as RHODE, MATIA MOU and MIRANO made their bid for glory. IT'S A SNIP who had never been out of the first four throughout the race let the other three make their move but Mann cool and collected waited for them to tire. First MATIA MOU and then MIRANO were quietly picked off and on the entrance to the straight only RHODE stood between Mann and glory. Taking the lead on the approach to the last IT'S A SNIP had a clear advantage but the Czechs had not given up and VINNY in particular was making up ground quickly. The crowds were treated to an unprecedented sight of six horse in a line powering up the home straight with only a couple of lengths separating them. IT'S A SNIP who looked at the last that as if he was going to power home by several lengths suddenly stopped. In a matter of strides VINNY, MIRANO and MATIA MOU were almost upsides him. When all looked lost IT's A SNIP got a second wind and just as VINNY got to within a whisker of taking the lead the British horse powered on and actually won quite comfortably although he had not made it easy for his connections .VINNY, MIRANO, CHALCEDON and MATIA MOU crossed the line almost together ahead of poor RHODE who looked to have broken down. In all ten had finished and there had been no grief at all during the final two thirds of the race. To the delight of the very vocal British and Irish contingent in the crowd Mann acknowledged the cheers and perhaps not surprisingly announced his retirement from the saddle for a second and final time. There was some controversy after the race with both MIRANO and UNISONO being disqualified for remounting. The rules stated that no horse could be remounted if the horses hip flank or shoulder had touched the ground and the jockey had touched the ground by any means other than his feet. Whilst Vinklarek on UNISONO had clearly broken the rules Jaroslav Brecka claimed quite rightly that he had only touched the ground with his feet as he had been dragged through the Ninth fence. The video of the race shows this to be the case but the stewards stood firm and a subsequent appeal to the courts was lost. What did emerge from the controversy was a change in the rules which allowed a horse to be remounted once in the Velka. IT'S A SNIP ran once more in the Velka finishing third for Richard Dunwoody in 1996 but sadly broke down on his next start on the Cheltenham Cross Country course and was retired.

VELKA PARDUBICKA POJISTOVNY 800,000KC (1st 630,000kc, 2nd 450,000kc, 3rd 306,000kc, 4th 230,000kc, 5th 180,000kc) 16 runners (33 entries)

1st    IT`S A SNIP - Charlie Mann    10, 67

2nd   VINNY - Zdeno Koplik    8, 67

3rd    CHALCEDON - Pavel Szikora    11, 67

4th    MATIA MOU - Josef Vana    10, 67

5th    RHODE - Zdenik Matysik    11, 67

6th    LORIENT - Mr Josef Kovanda    12, 67

7th    QUIRINUS - Dusan Andres    13, 67

8th    RIGOLETTO - Vladimir Snitkovskij    11, 67

Also Ran : HYPNOS - M.Fencl 7 (unseated rider 10A), MIKI - Jan Havlicek 10 (refused 10th), LIMONAIRE - Roland Kleparski 9 (unseated rider 9th), KAMBALDA RAMBLER - Mr Robert Crosby (refused 9th), DRAK - Jaromir Stohanzl 11 (fell 4th), URANIUM - Mr A.Bocquet 9 (fell 4th), MIRANO - Jaroslav Brecka 9 (unseated rider 9th remounted finished 3rd disqualified), UNISONO - Vladimir Vinklarek 8 (fell 4th remounted finished 7th disqualified)

Non Runners : Uriquarat , Lydka.

Trainer : Charlie Mann in the UK. Distances : 1 1/4-1 1/4-neck-neck-8-10-15-distance-distance. Time : 10 mins 03.43 secs.